December 3, 2013

Book Review: Let Me Go by L.L. Akers

A scarlet dragonfly tattoo—meant to be a beautiful, family mark of freedom, but instead becomes a prophetic brand for those who wear it, to forever be suffering. Wounded and broken, they find themselves flittering back into the cycle of abuse that relentlessly clings to their family, a reality they can never seem to escape.

One mother and her daughters, bound by blood—torn apart by abuse. They begin their lives intertwined but are forced to fight for their survivals separately, struggling to hide their fear and undeserved shame from each other and the world. One of these women finds herself trapped—alone—and she battles to survive the terrifying darkness. With long hours of nothing to do but wait in fear, she grapples through her obscure dreams and memories of the past, sorting which memory belongs to whom: physically harmed, mentally damaged, raped, sexually abused, an unwanted pregnancy… and even the vivid memory of a dangerous dance with death in a last attempt to escape the shambles and horrors of a seemingly unchangeable situation.

Twin sisters, Gabriella and Olivia, dive blindly—and much too early—into adulthood. They are soon followed by their younger sister, Emma, all running from a not-so-idyllic past; chasing the happiness they believe they will find, by abandoning their childhoods to be “grown-up” and start their own lives.

Deeply evocative, Let Me Go is a coming-of-age story: the struggles of one mother and her daughters trying to survive life—marred by abuse and misplaced blame—and their need to reach peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

I am so torn over this book. I am hovering between a 2-star and a 3-star rating, and I can't quite decide where it falls. Honestly, I did not like this book. I didn't like the characters, and I had a big problem with the story. However, I'm not entirely sure if that's a fair reason to rate a book so low. The writing was good, and there were parts of the story that were intriguing. I think this is really just my first honest-to-goodness case of "this book just wasn't for me."

This was not an easy read. The story is about 3 sisters, two older twin girls, and a younger sister who all suffer through abuse during their lives. They started out at a young age watching their mom and dad cycle through physical, verbal and emotional abuse. Fight after fight, reconciliation after reconciliation, until finally their mom had enough. Just when things are looking up, their mom brings home a new boyfriend who is even worse than dad. His name is Mark, and while on the outside he seems like a nice guy, in reality he is secretly molesting the youngest daughter, Emma. It's at this time in the book that each sister's story kind of branches out, and we switch back and forth in their POV's. And the most disturbing part of the book (but also the part that I was hooked by the most), was the anonymous voice of the "Girl in the Box." This girl didn't know where she was, but was certain that she had been kidnapped by a certain man, and was being held captive in a box. The descriptions during these chapters were chilling and terrifying. I was sucked in to trying to figure out which girl it was and who the evil man was that had her. Because as the story goes on, and more is revealed about each sister's struggle with abuse and the horrible things they are living through, it becomes apparent that each sister has a man in her life that is tormenting her and has at one time or another threatened to lock her in a box and make her disappear. This was also a point of the story that I had a huge problem with. It's simply not believable. I can't make myself believe that there are actually three sister's being abused by three different men, and each man happens to very specifically threaten them with the same fate: being locked in a box.

My other problem with this book was that I did not connect with any of the characters. In fact, I disliked all of them. Emma, Gabby, Olivia, the mom, I couldn't hardly stand to read about them and the poor decisions they made time and time again. I know that there are women out there in the world that are abused, probably exactly like each of these characters were, and I am sympathetic to that. But it just put such a bitter and nasty taste in my mouth reading about how weak these women were. Some of them were only children when the abuse started, so I can't hold them accountable for that, but that's when their mom or older sister should have stepped in for them. Not one of them ever showed strength, or just a little bit of common sense. I know that victim's sometimes feel like the abuse is their fault, but each one of these girls blamed themselves and never reached out for help. I would like to believe that in a family of 3 victims, at least one of them would have found the courage to get help. For herself, and for her sisters. And oh my gosh, don't get me started on how the mother NEVER stood up for any of her daughters. She was so far in denial about everything that was going on that I wanted to strangle her! Ugh. I know I'm probably putting my foot all the way in my mouth by saying these things, but it just struck me all wrong. Maybe it's because I know that there are awful things going on in the real world every day, and I just want to see something different in the fiction I read. I don't know.

But, I feel like there was a huge opportunity to redeem this book and the characters before it was over, but it was missed in a big way. Towards the end of the book when everything seems like it's too miserable and awful to bear, all of a sudden the book skips forward two years, and miraculously all of the girls have resolved their abusive relationships and have moved on to get the help they need. Wait... WHAT!!!!???? They finally take control of their lives and break the cycle of abuse, and we are just going to skip over that whole part!! If the book hadn't almost been over at that point, I would have put it down and walked away from it. You can't just make me read through all of these characters worst moments and horrible circumstances over and over again, and then when they finally find themselves, and their strength and courage, not reward me with THAT part of the story.

Whew. Anyway, this book is definitely not an easy read. It tackles very heavy subjects, and there's not many rainbows and unicorns to the story. Truthfully, I will probably not pick up the next book in this series. Not because I don't think it will be a good story, but because it's just not for me.

L.L. Akers is originally from the Midwest where she grew up climbing trees, haystacks, and haylofts—escaping into other worlds with a good book. She enjoyed playing cow-pattie hopscotch and outrun-the-bull with her siblings.

She now lives in the South, the silly wife of a serious man, and mother of: one very gifted and fetching male-tween, a chubby beagle that looks astonishingly like a mini-cow, a deranged terrier as well as five Koi fish, a herd of tiny but boastful lizards, and dozens of obnoxiously loud serenading frogs.

After a career in human resources, she now pursues life as a recluse writer; hanging out at home in her PJ’s with her iPad, Burt’s Bees lip balm and her posse of creatures. Regardless of her self-isolation, she can still be lured outside for brief moments by the scent of freshly mowed grass and a bowl full of cherries.

Let Me Go is her first novel, and book 1 of the Let Me Go Series – each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhangers.

5 comments:

Thank you for hosting LMG on your blog. You may have missed it, but how the 3 young women got away or stopped the abuse... hint: before the church, a trailer, and the chicken way out @ the hospital... email me for more details if you wish. I'm sorry you were disappointed, you're right... this book is not for everyone. It contains some triggers. The next book, Captured Again, is much lighter and sticks closely to the typical New Adult genre, focusing on Emma at College... but it too progresses past the dark times in their lives and picks up 5 years later.

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